Here is your MLS Eastern Conference Champions shirts...

[roxfan00]

your Colorado Rapids!

[Billy B]

It looks like there's a lot too much going on there with the conference logo and team crest. And adidas really goes too far with putting their three stripes everywhere.

[kmccarthy27]

Its a nice shirt but they so need to rename the conferences American and National that way if a west team does that again they do not look really stupid.

[kiwi_canadian]

Well if the Galaxy win then geographically it will work.

[Droost]

I agree with above and I am all for renaming the conferences, but I would go more along the lines with the Hunt and Anshuntz (*sp) divisions......Would separate the league as a whole from traditional american sports structures and pay tribute to the two men who are responsible for growing the league to where it is today...

Shirt is far to busy - although it is not a monstrosity.

[jhans203]

your Colorado Rapids!

Reminds me of RSL's shirts last year.

[zinman11121]

Can someone explain to this MLS novice why a Western Conference team is the Eastern Conference champ?

[Don]

Can someone explain to this MLS novice why a Western Conference team is the Eastern Conference champ?

The playoffs are sorted into the best 2 teams from each conference, then the next best 4 teams in the league regardless of conference. All 4 "wild card" teams were from the Western conference.

[JH42XCC]

The MLS needs to get rid of the silly crossover rule.

[TrueYankee26]

Now i'm glad the red bulls lost cause of that ugly shirt!

[Lee.]

It's always difficult to balance out winning a conference championship against fashion statements, I'm glad you were able to find your personal compass on this.

[omnivore]

The MLS needs to get rid of the silly crossover rule.

Agreed. It's ridiculous. I actually liked it, but it doesn't handcap the crossovers enough and it just ends up being silly.

[BrySmalls]

The MLS needs to get rid of the silly crossover rule.

Agreed. It's ridiculous. I actually liked it, but it doesn't handcap the crossovers enough and it just ends up being silly.

Still MIGHTY's post sums up the silly rule just nicely:

So the Western Conference champion FC Dallas is farther East than the Eastern Conference champion Colorado Rapids?

Fantastic.

Dallas vs Colorado in Toronto... Let's see ESPN build that one up

[GFB]

mmm... Snickers.

[Mingjai]

The MLS needs to get rid of the silly crossover rule.

Agreed. It's ridiculous. I actually liked it, but it doesn't handcap the crossovers enough and it just ends up being silly.

I disagree. The MLS plays a completely balanced schedule, with each team playing all the others twice in a season. Why should teams that finish with bad records be able to make in it to the playoffs over teams with better records playing an identical schedule simply because the worse team happens to be in the Eastern Conference. If they played different schedules, I can see your argument, but in the MLS, there's no difference between Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams in terms of scheduling.

[swilson160]

The MLS needs to get rid of the silly crossover rule.

Agreed. It's ridiculous. I actually liked it, but it doesn't handcap the crossovers enough and it just ends up being silly.

I disagree. The MLS plays a completely balanced schedule, with each team playing all the others twice in a season. Why should teams that finish with bad records be able to make in it to the playoffs over teams with better records playing an identical schedule simply because the worse team happens to be in the Eastern Conference. If they played different schedules, I can see your argument, but in the MLS, there's no difference between Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams in terms of scheduling.

Why have Conferences at all, then? Just lump them all together and seed them 1-8.

[Cujo]

Colorado.... Eastern Conference?

Just another reason why the MLS will never connect with the American public.

[illwauk]

The MLS needs to get rid of the silly crossover rule.

Agreed. It's ridiculous. I actually liked it, but it doesn't handcap the crossovers enough and it just ends up being silly.

I disagree. The MLS plays a completely balanced schedule, with each team playing all the others twice in a season. Why should teams that finish with bad records be able to make in it to the playoffs over teams with better records playing an identical schedule simply because the worse team happens to be in the Eastern Conference. If they played different schedules, I can see your argument, but in the MLS, there's no difference between Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams in terms of scheduling.

Why have Conferences at all, then? Just lump them all together and seed them 1-8.

You mean like a single table that the fans have been pushing for years... why the hell would MLS do that?

I do like the basic concept behind the crossover rule and like how the CFL uses it, but I agree, it makes no sense in a league where everyone plays everyone else an equal number of times anyway.

[dolfan13]

Single table format can't come soon enough...and here I thought changing the playoffs seeds to best record (outside of conference champs) was a step towards single-table...now this happens.

[Still MIGHTY]

Colorado.... Eastern Conference?

Just another reason why the MLS will never connect with the American public.

Yeah, Atlanta in the NL West and Arizona in the NFC East really killed MLB and NFL.

It's just the playoffs naming problem. I get the system, it's just the names need to be ditched in the playoffs. The Western and Eastern champs should be the regular season champs, then ditch the conference names in the playoffs and seed where appropriate. Then there isn't a secondary playoff champ (I mean , in theory, you may not even have to win any games and advance to the MLS Cup (Think 3 ties, 2 penalty kick rounds). That's not something you should win a "championship" for.)